Writing about the Jeffrey Epstein saga has the feeling of using an air horn. It calls a great deal of attention to oneself, produces unpredictable and intense results in its audience and really should be saved for moments when it’s absolutely necessary — scaring off a charging bear, preventing a maritime disaster, being Pitbull, etc.

Then you read something like this: “[Speaker Mike Johnson] went on to say, ‘[President Trump] was an FBI informant to try to take this stuff down.’” And you find yourself pulling open the junk drawer in the kitchen and rummaging for that air horn you bought as a stocking stuffer last Christmas.

When the Speaker then clarified that he was only “reiterating what the victims’ attorney said” — the part about how Trump had cooperated with investigators during the first Epstein prosecution but not the part about how the president had done an “about-face” — then you’ve got to push that little red button.

It would be one thing if the Speaker had a reputation as a liar, but even his fiercest enemies would have to acknowledge that Johnson is known to be a very honest man. Or if Johnson were stupid, it might be reasonable to think that he didn’t know how police informants work. But Johnson, a lawyer and law professor, has proven to be a lot smarter than most in Washington. He keeps passing bill after bill despite having a majority thinner than the ones that ate his three immediate Republican predecessors........

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